acroterium

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. One of the small pedestals, for statues or other ornaments, placed on the apex and at the basal angles of a pediment, or upon the gables in Gothic architecture.

n. One of the pedestals, for vases or statues, forming a part roof balustrade.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. One of the small pedestals, for statues or other ornaments, placed on the apex and at the basal angles of a pediment. Acroteria are also sometimes placed upon the gables in Gothic architecture.

n. One of the pedestals, for vases or statues, forming a part roof balustrade.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. In classic arch., a small pedestal placed on the apex or angle of a pediment for the support of a statue or other ornament.

n. A statue or an ornament placed on such a pedestal.

n. Any ornament forming the apex of a building or other structure, or of a monument, such as the anthemia of Greek tombstones or the decorations of some modern architectural balustrades. Compare antefix. Also called acroter.

Etymologies

Latin, from Ancient Greek; related to ἄκρος (akros, "highest, at the extremity"). (Wiktionary)

Examples

The gables are each crowned with a figure of Victory, sometimes called an "acroterium," from the architectural name of the tablet on which it stands.

Calpurnia had, but the following: there was attached to Cæsar's house by way of ornament and distinction pursuant to a vote of the Senate an acroterium, [603] as Livius says, and Calpurnia in her dream seeing this tumbling down lamented and wept.

The columns are surmounted by their entablature and a pediment, behind which a low attic rises from the roof of the church to the height of the apex of the pediment; it is crowned with a cornice and blocking-course, and surmounted by an acroterium of nearly its own height, but in breadth only equalling two-thirds of it; this is finished with a sub-cornice and blocking-course, and is surmounted by the tower, which rises from the middle.